Cuban doctors sue organization selling them into indentured servitude

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) faces a lawsuit by Cuban doctors who accuse it of helping organize a program in which they were forced to work in Brazil against their will, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Three U.S. Court of Appeals judges ruled that PAHO's status as an international organization does not make it immune from suit. The physicians accused PAHO of financial misconduct within the United States.

The case, presented by four doctors in 2018 in the Southern District of Florida and transferred in 2020 to the U.S. District Court in Washington, centers on the so-called More Doctors program, in which Cuba agreed to send health specialists to Brazil.

According to the lawsuit, Cuba and Brazil used PAHO as an intermediary to avoid a direct agreement between the two countries, which would have to be approved by the Brazilian parliament.

The Cuban government received 85% of the money paid by Brazil and only paid a 10% bonus to the doctors. PAHO got 5% as a fee, according to the lawsuit. The funds went through PAHO's U.S. bank account.

The plaintiffs alleged that they were forced to work under threat of punishment by their government and were paid far less than fair wages. They also claim that PAHO violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

PAHO dismissed the lawsuit, citing a U.S. law that grants international organizations the same immunity from suit as foreign governments.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said that the claims could proceed based on PAHO's financial activity because that law does not apply when an action "is based on commercial activity conducted in the U.S."

The D.C. Circuit said the financial transactions, allegedly made in furtherance of trafficking, could stand on their own as a cause of action, wrote by U.S. Circuit Judge Karen Henderson on Tuesday.

U.S. officials have previously said that Cuba relies on forced labor in "medical missions" abroad for income.